This application claims priority to Japanese Application No. 2012-227934, which was filed on Oct. 15, 2012.
Exemplary implementations of the broad inventive principles described herein provide a composite operating device that is used to operate an electronic apparatus installed in a vehicle or the like.
Conventionally, among operating devices that are provided in various electronic apparatuses, a composite operating device including an operating member that is operable to rotate about a specific axis of rotation and also operable to slide in a direction orthogonal to the axis of rotation is known. For example, when installed in a vehicle such as an automobile, such a composite operating device is used to operate, for example, a car navigation system, a seat of the vehicle, or the like.
Generally, there is a demand for improvement in the operability of an operating member of such a composite operating device. Specifically, if the operating member slides during a rotating operation of the operating member, the operating feel will be degraded, and furthermore an unintended signal may be output. For this reason, there is a need to prevent displacement of the operating member in the sliding direction and to retain it in a neutral position during a rotating operation of the operating member.
To meet this need, JP 2008-135324A discloses a composite operating device including an operating member that is operable to rotate about a specific axis of rotation and also operable to slide in a direction orthogonal to the axis of rotation, a retaining member that rotatably retains the operating member, and a plurality of compression springs that are arranged between the operating member and the retaining member and retain the operating member in the neutral position.
JP 2008-135324A is an example of related art.
The composite operating device disclosed in JP 2008-135324A employs the plurality of compression springs to retain the operating member in the neutral position. Thus, there is a problem that it has a large number of components. In addition, the compression springs are extremely small. Therefore, the compression springs require careful handling and are also associated with difficulty in assembly. Moreover, automation of assembly of these compression springs is also difficult.